Departing from Cefalù, on the northern shores of Sicilia, many of the riders might be thinking of the 1994 World Championships – that day when France's Luc Leblanc battled Italy's Claudio Chiappucci to be crowned king in Agrigento, on the island's southern coast. Sunday's 207-kilometre trans-Sicilian stage will be very undulating and favour an attacking rider when it arrives on the same stretches used in the Worlds 14 years prior.

Ex-World Champion Igor Astarloa is eyeing the stage. "I have already had a look at many of the Giro stages, also the second stage, after the time trial," Astarloa of Team Milram noted. "It is the same spot of the Worlds that was won by [Luc] Leblanc, in Agrigento. This year, there are a small number of stages for the sprinters and many finishes on small ascents; stages for [Paolo] Bettini, [Danilo] Di Luca." (GB)